Quote of the Day

[Content Note: Racism; terrorism.]

"This impulse to blame the massacre in Charleston on everything but race—and not acknowledge that this is indeed a hate crime and is in fact about something broader than one individual—is based on a reluctance to confront America's long and bloody past head on. Messages of #BlackLivesMatter are as much about recent killings of unarmed black people as they are about America's consistent devaluation of black lives during and after death. ...Roof, who was finally captured early Thursday after a massive manhunt, has apparent white supremacist ties, and a picture is circulating of him wearing two overt racist symbols: the South African flag under apartheid and the flag of formerly white-controlled Rhodesia (which later became Zimbabwe). In other words, Roof is literally wearing a racist's uniform. We must be able to admit the truth that is right in front of our faces. When a white supremacist walks into one of the most historic and famed black churches in the United States and massacres nine black people, the catalyst is race at the most fundamental level."—Zerlina Maxwell, in a must-read piece: "The Charleston Church Shooting Is Another Reminder That Racism Is Not a Thing of the Past."